Weakening Gordon spreads rain inland

Blamed for the death of a Florida baby and intense wind and rain that pummeled parts of the northern Gulf of Mexico coast, Tropical Depression Gordon weakened Wednesday but still spread bands of heavy rains across a swath of the South as it swirled over central Mississippi.

It promised more of the same on a forecast track expected to take it northeast into Arkansas, which was forecast to get heavy rain from the system by Wednesday night. By Saturday, what’s left of the storm was forecast to hook to the north, then northeast on a path toward the Great Lakes.

Pictures on social media showed damaged roofs and debris-strewn beaches and roads. However, no major damage or serious injuries were reported, other than the one fatality - a baby in a mobile home, struck by a large tree limb in Pensacola late Tuesday.

Neighbors told the newspaper the victim was about 10 months old.

Immigrant charged in student’s death was known by alias

IOWA CITY, Iowa

The Mexican man charged with abducting and killing an Iowa college student was known for years on the dairy farm where he worked by another name: John Budd.

The alias has emerged as Cristhian Bahena Rivera’s employer, a cattle operation owned by a prominent Republican family, faces questions over whether its managers were aware of any warning signs that he was in the country illegally.

The name under which Rivera was hired and paid for the past four years was confirmed by three people with knowledge of his employment history. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information during an ongoing criminal investigation. One of the people said Rivera’s work identity as John Budd appears in official government records.

Farm officials have said Rivera presented an out-of-state photo identification and a Social Security number when he was hired in 2014, and they believed he was the person depicted in those documents until his arrest last month.

Student shot, killed outside school

PROVIDENCE, R.I.

A 15-year-old student has been shot and killed outside a Rhode Island high school on just the second day of the academic year.

Providence Police Chief Col. Hugh Clements said the teen died after he was shot outside the Providence Career and Technical Academy Wednesday afternoon after a fight with another teen.

Clements did not identify the victim but an automated phone message to district parents said he attended nearby Central High School.

Maj. David Lapatin also said police have in custody a “person of interest” who was found shot about a mile away from the school.

That boy, who Lapatin also didn’t name, was taken to the hospital with a gunshot to his thigh that isn’t considered life-threatening.

China seeks to defuse tariff war

BEIJING

China is trying to defuse a spiraling tariff war with Washington over technology policy by highlighting gains in other trade-related areas.

The Cabinet press office invited The Associated Press to interview the head of the country’s patent and copyright office, as part of government efforts to persuade Washington and other trading partners to tone down objections to Chinese industry policy.

The official, Shen Changyu, pointed to improvements in fighting violations, previously a target of complaints by the United States, Europe and other traders.